Glader's Curse
by EpicJDrolet
Summary: The Grievers. The Scorch. The Cure. Everything had been completed, yet something was missing. He knew it. Those words echoed in his mind. "WICKED is good." The story of the Gladers, reimagined, and told through the eyes of Leo, a Glader who was often neglected by others... until he uncovers his dark past surrounding him, the other Gladers, and the Creators.
1. Chapter 1

He opened his eyes. Like many, he had been sleeping outside, under the stars. The sound of Grievers in the distance. He had been the Greenbean up until a few weeks ago, when a kid named Chuck arrived. _Had it been a month already?_

The alarm. That familiar sound to all the boys of the Glade-Gladers, as they called themselves. That alarm sounded once a week to signal supplies and, once a month, a new Greenbean.

He ran to the box's stop, already a large crowd was gathering. He met up with Alby-the leader of the group, who stood in front of the box, with the Greenbean. A tall, sixteen or seventeen year-old with messy hair. He stood slouched, as all the Gladers did after exiting the box. No one knew where it came from, or where they were. But it didn't really matter. "Listen up!" Alby cried out, Newt at his shoulder. Alby was a tall boy with dark skin. He seemed to have a permanent scowl on his face. Newt was the opposite, always calm and collected. Alby continued, "This is Thomas. The newest greenbean." As he finished talking, every Glader at the box applauded. "Chuck, could you give the boy the tour?" he said, pointing at Chuck-the former greenbean. He was short and a twelve-thirteen year-old, with curly red hair.

"Yes sir!" the kid said, saluting-with his left hand. He giggled, and a few people up front scoffed at him.

"Okay everyone, back to work." Alby said, ending the Gathering. He put his arms up, that technically marked the end, but people often left before he did.

As the group broke off, a kid walked up to the two-month old greenbean. "Leo, don't you think there's something _odd _about that greenbean? He seemed... familiar." the kid was lanky, and slightly taller than Leo. He had straight black hair and a scar above his right eye.

"Yeah Frankie. Something was definitely off about him." he said, then rolled his eyes. "Do you really think you're getting memories back?" Leo asked, already hearing the answer several times before-but hoping his friend would change his mind. All Gladers lost their memories before being sent to the box. According to the older Gladers, like Minho or Alby, one could only get their memories by going through the Changing.

Frankie nodded. "Yeah." then he turned. "I know you've heard my spiel before, so I'm just going to get to work." Frankie worked as a track-hoe, the farmers of the Glade. It was a pretty hard job, but he liked it-even though he seemed out of place there.

Leo worked as a cook, under the guidance of Siggy "Frypan". Frypan was a short and hairy kid, who seemed to have been born in a kitchen-it was his natural habitat.

The rest of Leo's day went by as usual. He cooked three meals, and some snacks, using the supplies given to them by 'the creators' and afterwards just sat under the stars in his sleeping bag, Frankie snoaring loudly beside him. He seemed to be the only one awake, although he heard the greenbean and Chuck talking only a few feet away from him. He couldn't make out their words, they were whispering, and snoaring echoed throughout Leo's skull.

Leo opened his eyes. The crack of dawn. Through the corner of his eye, he saw Alby and the greenbean walking towards the window, to introduce the latter to the Grievers. Being awake early was odd, considering how tired he was last night, but Leo stood up anyway and went for a walk, carefully stepping around each sleeping boy.

As he reached the hole where the Box would be, the alarm sounded. "What?" he asked, looking up to see the Box dropping. Alby, Newt and the Greenbean arrived seconds later.

Newt glared at Leo. "What did you do?" he yelled at him, a crowd quickly gathering. Sweat beaded down Leo's forehead.

"I didn't do anything, swear." he said, crossing his fingers. That earned a glare from Newt. Alby didn't care about them, he just walked to the Box, with the Greenbean in tow, and opened it up.

"Guys," he said in a whisper, "you're not going to like this." he pointed into the box, and Newt, Thomas, Leo, Frypan, Zart and Gally crowded around it's entrance.

Frypan whispered. "A girl?" a roar of whispers from the gathering crowd started up simultaneously as he said that.

Alby grabbed a piece of paper from the girl's hand. She was in a comatose state. Useless-for now. "That's it." he read aloud. "She's the last one."

Quickly, Newt and Thomas lifted the girl out of the box and leaned her against a nearby tree. She had something scribbled on her arm, which Leo pointed out to the keepers-and the greenbean. "_WICKED is good._" he read aloud, making sure the keepers could hear him.

Leo looked behind him. The keepers huddled around each other discussing their situation-bound to call a Gathering any minute. Leo looked at Thomas, who had a look of pain on his face.

And for the first time in two months, Leo remembered something.


	2. Chapter 2

**Other's Note: **Obviously, I've changed the story a bit. One thing I neglect to mention in the story is about Gally. Unlike the story, Gally had gone through the Changing _before _the story, and attacked Thomas during his first day-when Leo is working with Frypan. There are several other changes made, many of which are easy to point out.

* * *

Leo was sitting at a table. It was a big, wooden table inside of a bright, white-tiled room. Five other kids-all around his age-sat on the other sides. Three girls, and two other guys. One of the guys was skinny and had messy brown hair, while the other was shorter and a bit bigger. He had straight black hair. One of the girls-she had blue, sapphire-like eyes and straight black hair-spoke up first, breaking the silence in the room. "Why do you think _they _called us here?" she asked, moving her hands in a professional way, as if this was an interview.

Across the table, another girl spoke up. She had short brown hair with a pink headband on. Like all the others at the table, she wore a white shirt with black shorts. "What do you think?" she said, scrunching her face up. "'The variables have changed and you must decide something for us.'" as she spoke, she imitated a nerdy voice. This voice earned a chant of laughs from everyone at the table.

As the laughter died down, the two glass doors opened, and a man with a rat-like face walked in. He sat at the big chair at the end of the desk, all the while his face down in a clipboard. "Assistant Director Janson." the boy with black hair acknowledged, and Janson looked up.

"Ah yes." he started, sighing after saying two words. "Looks like both Groups A and B have been doing exceptionally well with the variables..." he said, "...but they are still missing one thing. We believe the easiest solution," he glanced at the brown haired kid, who looked as if he was going to speak, "other than sitting around doing nothing, is to send one of you into each of the mazes." At the end of that sentence, every kid's face went pale, their eyes widened. "After doing some... research, we have decided that Leo and Kathy will be sent in."

Leo-the dream Leo-glanced to the girl beside him. She had long(-ish) blonde hair, and big green eyes. She also looked at Leo, and smiled. Before realizing it, Leo smiled as well. "We were going to get sent in anyway." Leo said, still looking at the girl beside him. "Might as well go in now."

Leo opened his eyes. He hadn't known that he had fainted, and lay on the ground of the Glade-with Newt looking over him. "Whoa. Are you okay?" Leo sat up. He was propped up against a tree, with Thomas and the girl also leaning against it. "You and the greenbean here fainted as you saw the girl. Something has been off with you lately-ever since the arrival of Thomas here." Newt jabbed his thumb over his shoulder at Thomas, who lay peacefully against the tree. Leo nodded, and before Newt started talking again, he looked up at the sky-the sky was pink, signifying evening. "I hope Alby and Minho get back soon." he mumbled, before walking away.

Just as Leo was about to stand up, a voice mumbled in his head. _Are you there?_ As the voice echoed through his mind, he shook his head. It was a girl's voice, meaning that the girl who just recently arrived in the Glade must have said it.

Leo built up the strength and tried to speak in his mind. _Hello?_ Leo knew he probably did it wrong, but, as he was about to give up, the voice spoke again.

_Can you speak up? That was almost a whisper._

Leo built up the strength and screamed in his mind. _How's this?_

_ Perfect! Wait... is this Leonardo?_

Leo looked around. _Yeah, this is Leo. What's going on? _He started to walk away, but saw Thomas shuffle around in his sleep, and then his eyes dart open. "Did you hear that?" he asked, knocking on his head.

Leo's face lit up. He knew what he meant instantly. "A girl's voice?" he asked, pointing at the girl. Thomas' response was a simple nod.

_Do you know Thomas? _The girl spoke again in his mind. She sounded worried.

_Yeah, he's actually leaning against the same tree as you._ Leo flashed a grin, before realizing she couldn't actually see it. "Yeah." Leo said looking at Thomas again. "You can hear her two? In your mind?"

Thomas nodded, and the sky above them darkened. Before either could speak again, both Chuck and Frankie walked up to their friends. "Time to get some sleep." Leo said, shrugging.

Leo, Thomas, Chuck and Frankie were walking along the wall several minutes later. As the doors to the Maze started to make their signature grinding sound, and started to close, they all stared at the closest opening. Newt was running, Alby in his arms. "Help!"

Almost on instinct, Leo ran in to the Maze, and grabbed Alby-who was fainted. Behind him, Thomas started to push Minho. About ten feet from the door-which was now almost closed-Minho yelled at them, barely audible over the grinding of the doors. "We're not going to make it!"

Thomas and Minho sprinted towards the door, Leo-with Alby-kept jogging. Alby was quite heavy, he couldn't run any faster with him in his arms.

The grinding noise stopped, and Minho and Thomas skidded to a stop. They were alone in the Maze. With Grievers-strange slug-like creatures melded together with a torture device-haunting every inch of it. Minho started to freak out. "No one's survived a night in the Maze." he looked around nervously. "No one!"

Leo, tired of holding Alby, set him on the ground, propped up against the wall. "What are we going to do with 'Sleeping Beauty' here?" he asked, jabbing a thumb at Alby.

Minho was about to open his mouth, when he closed it up. The three boys saw the same thing and stood still. Flashing lights, and a clicking noise. Minho's eyes widened. "Grievers." he whispered. Before anyone could do anything, Minho ran away, quickly. He headed down the closest left passageway-the opposite direction of the lights.

"You'd think the 'Keeper of the Runners' would want to fight these things, huh?" Leo said, to Thomas. Thomas nodded, thinking heavily.

"I've got an idea." he said, grabbing a vine that hung off the wall. "Grab Alby and follow me."

Slinging the leader of the Gladers over his shoulder with a grunt, Leo followed Thomas, up the side of the Maze wall, with each passing second, the clicking getting louder and the lights brighter.


	3. Chapter 3

Thomas climbed up the vines, Leo struggling to follow him. He stopped several feet off the group, and they wrapped Alby around in vines, creating a makeshift cradle for the leader of the Gladers. Leo refused to look at Alby's face as they did so, it was pale white and ghostly, his eyes bulging out of his face. It was if he was eating the sourest lemon ever.

When they secured the rope, Thomas looked at the light, now only feet away. "Here it comes." he whispered. Leo nodded, his gaze fixed on the Griever slowly moving towards them. It was a grey-greenish slug, looking more like a monochromatic booger, with spikes protruding from it's back. When it moved, it curled up into a ball and clicked against the ground, creating small holes from it's spikes.

Both Leo and Thomas shuddered as the slug-torture machine hybrid slowly clicked towards the two Gladers. Somehow they were connected, but they didn't know how. They could speak to a girl in their mind, and memories showed Leo with a kid who looked like a younger Thomas. Like the other Gladers, a wall blocked out the memories of their past. They could see pieces, but details were left out. Faces, names and places were a blur, but unconnected events gave them hope. Somehow, Leo knew he had seen Grievers before the Glade.

"What do we do?" Leo whispered in a way that seemed like yelling. He never took his gaze off the approaching Griever, and knew-in a strange way-that Thomas didn't either.

"Wanna fight?" Thomas suggested, shocking Leo. Thomas knew Leo was going to say 'no', but his instinct was to ask anyway.

"Yeah, sure. Why not? It's really our only option." Leo quietly said. It shocked Thomas-and Leo himself. Sitting on the vines, he looked calmly at the Griever. Leo smiled. "I have an idea."

Thomas looked confused, and pondered about how they could kill-or at the very least _injure_-the torture machine. "Just follow my lead." Leo said, standing up happily. He climbed a few feet away from Thomas and shrieked, the Griever stopping immediately. It switched direction and headed full speed at the taunting Glader, stones kicking up all around them.

Thomas smirked and shrugged. _Making the Griever crash into the wall is genius._ He thought, watching the Griever rush toward them. It stopped at the wall, but then accelerated again, this time going up the wall.

"Uh oh." Leo said as the Griever kept accelerating up the vertical slope. As the Griever quickly approached Leo, he dived and grabbed onto another vine. Thomas watched as Leo quickly did a dive and grab technique, before snapping out of his trance at the appearance of two more Grievers trudging toward him.

Following Leo's technique-although making it more to his liking-Thomas jumped and grabbed another vine, jumping towards Leo. He winked. "We can get them to crash." he yelled, his voice barely audible over the Grievers' clicking. Leo nodded and picked up speed, flailing his arms like a monkey.

They quickly spun around and crossed paths, the Grievers slamming together in an awkward splat, their slug-like bodies exploding, leaving it everywhere.

As the two Gladers jumped down to the ground, they looked at Alby, who looked a lot worse than before.

Then, someone walked up behind them.


	4. Chapter 4

"Hey, klunkheads!" A familiar voice boomed. Thomas and Leo spun around on their heels, the sound of Grievers clicking in the distance. Minho. "This way."

The three ran through the twisted corridors of the Maze, Minho obviously knowing the route to their destination. Soon, the three came to an exit to the hole, and both Thomas and Leo smiled. "Don't get to excited. It's just a cliff."

As they reached the cliff, two Grievers caught up with the three. "Stop!" Minho yelled, and Leo and Thomas followed orders. The Grievers sped past and fell off the cliff.

"I thought the walls changed everyday." Thomas said, staring off the edge of the cliff. "But you looked like you've done this everyday of your life."

Minho picked up a rock. "This first part never changes, it's the inside of the Maze that does." He threw the rock off the Cliff, falling into the void and disappearing. "See that? Everything that goes over the Cliff disappears when it hits a certain spot."

Thomas frowned. "The Griever Hole?" The name sounded so familiar, as if they had been saying it every day of their lives.

Minho patted Thomas on the back, and looked forward into the sky. The sky was showing some signs of light blue, meaning morning would be coming soon. Leo yawned, and everyone turned to him. "It's been a long day." he said, stretching. Thomas nodded.

Slowly, the three trudged back to the East Door, bags under all of their eyes. The door not-so-silently retracted, and Minho, Leo and Thomas crashed to the ground of the Glade. "Alby's up in some vines." Thomas said, as the three fell asleep, Newt standing above them.

As Leo slept, he dreamt. He dreamt for only a short time before being woken up by a loud scream. He sat straight up at the sound, as did Thomas and Minho. "What the klunk is that!?" Leo yelled. It must have been the Changing, but no one had been that loud before. Alby must have been in bad shape.

"Slit it." Minho said, standing up. Leo followed and Thomas did too, seconds later. As they did, Newt ran towards them.

"The girl's up," he said, "and she wants him." he said pointing at Thomas.

"Me?"

They ran to the homestead, where the keepers slept, all the while thoughts pouring into Thomas' brain. He mumbled something, but Minho ignored him. Leo, however, did not. "Don't worry," Leo said, continually sprinting across the Glade. "She's probably nice."

Thomas smiled. They had both spoken to her, so they knew she was nice. -ish. "You shuckheads stop talkin', and keep running." Minho said, several steps in front of them.

"Good that." Leo said, smiling.

_I wish I knew the meanings of Glader slang._ Thomas said into Leo's mind, looking forward as he did.

_Klunk means poop, 'slit it' means 'shut up' and shuck is some kind of insult. _Leo responded, focusing his gaze on the homestead's door.

_Good that._ Thomas said.

Leo laughed, and seconds later, Thomas did too. Minho looked back in anger. "What're you shuckfaces laughing about?" he said, anger in his eyes. This shut them up.

_Well sorry, your honour. _Leo said in his mind, forgetting that Thomas could hear him.

Thomas smiled, and they pushed the door to the homestead off, greeted by Gally-who had gone through the Changing and, apparently, tried to kill Thomas on his first day-who snarled at Thomas as they walked upstairs to the girl's room.

As the door opened, and Thomas, Leo and Minho peeked inside, the girl tilted her head, and looked at the three faces. Her face lit up as she tilted her head.

"Tom? Leo?"


	5. Chapter 5

As Leo and Thomas took a step into the room, Minho and Gally stepped backward, and walked away. "Umm... Do I know you?" both boys asked.

The girl kept looking forward, as if she was blind and couldn't see the confusion on their faces. She smiled. "I'm Teresa." she stood up.

_Do you know any 'Teresa' chicks? _Leo asked Thomas, who shrugged in return.

_Memory wipe, remember?_

Before anyone else could speak, Minho and Gally walked into the room. There was no doubt that they were spying in on the crazy conversation. "Girl," Gally started, anger in his eyes.

"She says her name's Teresa." Thomas muttered. Gally scoffed at the comment, and crossed his arms.

"Teresa, we're taking you to the slammer. To..." he paused, likely to think of a good reason to put her in jail, "...keep you safe."

She smiled, and looked at her arm. The boys had noticed the writing before, but never thought about it's meaning: 'WICKED is good.' Minho looked at the writing, face lit up, before he and Gally escorted the girl out of the room.

_WICKED?_ Leo thought to Thomas.

_Friendly name._ The other boy replied, rolling his eyes and walking out of the room. _It sounds so familiar._

Before Leo could reply, Newt's voice boomed throughout the Glade. "Attention Gladers, we will be holding a Gathering in five minutes."

Five minutes later, with the grey sky above, everyone was outside. Usually Gatherings were held in a room of the Homestead, but they needed more space, so they held it outside. The keepers-Minho, Gally, Newt, Zart, Frypan and Winston-were sitting in front of the group of boys who eagerly watched them. Alby would have come, but was still going through the Changing as a boy named Joe tried to help him. Standing in the centre of the keepers were Thomas and Leo.

"What do you guys know?" Gally burst out as soon as everyone stopped talking. He then pointed to Thomas, "You come one day-like the rest of us-and then the next shucking day a **girl **comes in the Box." He slammed his hand down into the arm of the chair. "A shucking **girl**!"

This outburst caused a roar of whispers to rise up from the crowd. Newt, second in command of the Gladers-Alby's replacement-raised his hands. "Slit it!" He turned to Gally, hands on hips, with frustration in his eyes. "That goes double for you."

Zart, the big and broody keeper of the gardens, stood up and walked over to the two, now slightly scared, boys. "Something odd has been going on." he stopped, and narrowed his eyes. "I think you," he said turning to Thomas, "have something to do with it. Maybe." He stopped and turned around. "He could just be another sap like us, and this was just a coincidence."

Leo's face was about to burst from trying to stay silent-or so it seemed. He put a hand over his mouth and squeaked two small words into it. Enough to get every keeper's attention. "It's not."

Gally, anger and deceit in his eyes and smile, turned over to Leo. "What?" he boomed, frustrated. His face got very close to Leo's as he did, and the latter could clearly smell the garlic breath the keeper had.

"I-I said.." Leo said, straightening up, moving his hand away from his mouth. "It's not."

Thomas nodded. _What are you doing!? _he screamed into Leo's mind.

_I'm sorry! I just couldn't keep it in!_

Thomas stepped forward. _You're going to pay for this. _he said in his mind. "He's right. This is no coincidence."

This one sentence earned about a million gasps from the crowd. It settled in as he delivered a dramatic silence. "I heard the name WICKED before Tere... the girl came in the Box." He frowned. "Or, at least, it sounds very familiar."

Gally, arms crossed, and slumped in his chair, muttered something under his breath. "Join the club." he sat up as he did. "Everyone who goes through the Changing hears the name WICKED." He narrowed his eyes, and looked, evilly at Thomas and Leo. "...and, if I recall, I saw both of you."

More gasps rose from the crowd, and Newt quickly silenced them. As he did, Minho stood up. "Look, everyone, just slit it while I talk." He crossed his arms, and lowered his head. "These two are courageous. When we were in the Maze, I ran away, while these two," he said, gesturing to Leo and Thomas, "stayed to help Alby. I want to say this one thing, and no one else **will **say any different." He stopped, and a few heads-including most of the keepers, Thomas and Leo-started to nod. "I nominate Thomas to be the keeper of the Runners."

Thomas froze. Everyone froze, as Minho nodded. "Leo, I would nominate you, but you already have a job and you don't seem like the leaderly type." He stopped, and punched his hands together. "I would, however, like to make you a Runner, as you both showed excess amounts of courage-much more than I have ever shown."

Newt stood up, the first to break out of the trance. "Minho, are you sure?"

"Yes."

Newt did nothing else but nod. He didn't need any more of an answer. "Weird or not," he started, frowning, "Before I end this Gathering, I would like to say this: as both Thomas and Leo broke rule number one," he said, saying number like 'numbah', "they both have to spend the night in prison. There are two cells-one for the girl, who has fallen back into the coma, and one for these two."

I number of 'boos' and 'hisses' rang up from the crowd, and Gally stomped his foot. "The usual punishment is death, as we all saw Ben get banished last week, so this is a klunk-load better."

Newt glanced over at Gally, and raised his hands. "This Gathering is done."


	6. Chapter 6

The room was dark and damp, and smelled of rotten eggs. Obviously the jail hadn't been used much in the past, as cobwebs and cracks covered the walls. Leo walked into the cell, and immediately plopped down onto the rocky ground. The room had a toilet, a sink and a bed. One bed.

Thomas grimaced as he looked at the bed. "Only one?" he asked Newt, who shrugged at his question.

"I'll bring you shucks another mattress." he said, a sarcastic smirk invading his face. "Looks like princess doesn't want to sleep with the Greenbean."

Leo perked up at the mention of 'Greenbean'. "Uhh, technically," he started, crossing his arms. "The girl... Teresa, is the Greenbean. Last person to enter the Glade earns the title, right?"

Minho, who seemed to (literally) appear out of thin air, crossed his arms and shook his head. "No. The 'Greenbean' title sticks to you for one whole month... although it'll stick to you for the rest of your shucking life." His voice was grave and deep, but as he finished speaking, he smiled, bringing a lighter atmosphere into the room. "Have a good night."

Thomas frowned, as the gate closed behind him. Across the hall sat Teresa. She didn't look as if she was in a coma, more like she had simply fainted or fallen asleep. For some reason, Thomas couldn't stop staring at her. As he ignored his surroundings-the lights turning off, making the room eerily dark and ominous-Leo propped himself up against the far wall, and tapped at the ground with a stone. "Looks like you have a crush on Teresa." he said, smiling. Thomas snapped out of his trance-like state, and quickly fumbled around for words. "Don't worry, secret's safe with me. She is beautiful, but not my type."

Leo tapped the pebble against the ground a few more times, each beat echoing off the walls and ceiling. As he played the last note, Teresa grunted and sat up. "Could you keep it down?" she mumbled. Her voice was gravelly and seemed strained. "Girl's trying to sleep here."

Teresa cleared her throat as she sat up against the wall. "Where am I?" he asked, looking around at her surroundings, her vision probably blurry from sleep. Quickly, she focused her gaze on the two boys across the hall.

"Jail." Leo remarked. He shrugged, as he looked at her face-anger and disgust. "First girl to come into a world of boys," he started, smiling at Teresa. "And two guys who just tried to help someone."

Teresa smiled at the remark, her blue, sapphire-like eyes darting around the prison cell. Thomas smiled as a response to her happiness. Quickly sensing the situation, Teresa and Thomas quickly looked away from each other, blushing. "I would ask if you two would want privacy, but I can't go anywhere." Leo said, giving off a fake-awkward vibe in his tone. The short remark earning a chuckle from the two others in the jail.

As the three slowly drift off to sleep, the sound of snoring from the sleeping Gladers outside the jail. In comparison to the almost-pitch black room, the moon seems to shine just as bright as the sun does during the day.

As light crept through the barred windows, much darker then the day before, Leo woke to the sound of panicking Gladers and the cell doors unlocking. Thomas and Leo quickly stood up, as Minho appeared in the doorway. "Newt's called a Gathering. Something bad is going on."

Leo and Thomas quickly follow Minho outside, the runner barely breaking a sweat. As the reached the outside air of the Glade, the two were quick to figure out the problem.

The sun was missing.


	7. Chapter 7

Newt's eyes narrowed as he slumped down in his chair. He was in a bad mood, everyone knew it. The stress of being the keeper of the Gladers was destroying the mental barrier of his brain. Reaching up to his temples, he looked up. "Anyone have any theories for what the shuck is going on?"

Gally leaned forward. For once, Gally's crazed, bloodshot expression was missing. "I think we all know the problem here." he mumbled. Standing up, his crazy expression returned to his face as he angrily pointed toward Thomas, who stood in the front row of the crowd of Gladers. "Him!"

Newt quickly jumped up as an eruption of arguments rung out throughout the Glade. "Whoa, Gally. Like us, he just came in the Box... at a really bad time." His voice was tired, as if he was straining his voice. Taking a bottle of water in his left hand, he quickly chugged it.

"I don't think so."

A voice, deep and powerful, silenced the crowd. With the Gladers parting and making a pathway, Alby quickly hobbled up to the other keepers. "This is no mere coincidence."

Slowly walking like a skeleton, Alby took a seat in his reserved seat. "When I went through the Changing," Alby started, his eyes popping out of his head. As he finished his sentence, Gally stood up, knowing what the keeper was going to say. "I saw him."

Gally nodded. "Yes, him and Teresa." As the words escaped his mouth, he angrily glared toward Thomas, who just slumped back into the crowd.

As Thomas tried to become hidden in the crowd, Leo jumped forward. "Whoa, wait up a second."

Shooting a glare at Leo, Thomas stepped forward. "No, something's definitely going on." he whispered. Then, leaning in towards Leo, he lowered his voice to almost silence. "Don't tell them about our... power."

Walking up to the keepers, Leo held up his hands. He only needed to say two words: "I remembered." As a couple of gasps and whispers rose up around the crowd and keepers, he turned around. "I don't remember much, but I do remember this: Me, Thomas, Teresa and three others were sitting in a chrome-plated room. There was this rat-faced man, who said that they needed to 'speed up the tests'."

He lowered his head, and Thomas stalked over to him. "I did something really bad." he said, frowning.

Thomas turned to the rest of the group. "We have a gift. We can speak telepathically. We're definitely involved... somehow."

Gally raised an eyebrow as a large grin invaded his face. "I knew that shuckface was involved."

Newt sighed, as he glued his eyes to the ground. "Who do you mean by 'we'?"

Leo glared at Thomas, and spoke into his mind. _I thought you said 'don't tell them about our power'!_

Thomas shrugged. He turned to address the rest of the Gladers, before turning to Newt. "Me, Leo and the girl-Teresa" he said, frowning. As the words escaped his mouth, he heard a voice inside his head. It wasn't Leo, it was Teresa.

_Stop talking about me._

_ Sorry, but they deserve to know. Hope you understand._

Leo's voice cut into the conversation. _Someone's good at helping._

Above them, the sky started to turn from blue to pink, the sign of evening. Slowly, the Runners started to come in, and they ran their familiar path back to the metallic building near the Homestead. The Map Room.

Minho, who had black rings under his eyes and looked near death, sighed as he crashed down into his chair. Rubbing his temples, he looked up at the ever-darkening sky. "One of you shuckfaces better fill me in." His voice was tired and slow, and he yawned as he finished speaking.

Frypan, Gally and Newt quickly described the Gathering, leaving out only the smallest of details. As they finished, Minho turned to the walls. "Oh, pile of klunk."

As the other keepers turned to the walls, they all said similar phrases. Alby grimaced as careened his neck, and gave up from the pain. Newt was wide eyed as his jaw dropped at the sight. "The doors..."

Like everyone else, Frypan's jaw was dropped. "...they're _open_."


End file.
